Archive for
November, 2011

The FIRST Lego League tournament needs volunteer judges for the FLL Qualifier Tournaments to be held on December 3 (Kearney Jr. High) and December 10th (Bingham Middle School, Independence, Mo). The championship event is held at Union Station on January 14th. Visit http://www.firstlegoleague.org/ for more information about FLL.

The judges work in pairs to judge projects, core values and robot design. Training in using the scoring rubrics will be held on Wednesday, November 30th at Time Warner Cable, 6550 Winchester, KCMO, from 7-8:00 pm. (If needed, a separate training may be scheduled.)

Menu:Insalata Cesare alla Lidia – Lidia’s own version of the American-born, Italian-named Caesar Salad, made with tender hearts of Romaine tossed in a mild dressing seasoned with mustard, a touch of anchovy, imported Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and crispy croutons

Pasta Tasting Trio – An endless sampling of three daily-made fresh and filled pastas, the selections change according to the season and the fresh market offerings. Lidia’s signature dish!

Presentation Overview: Mr. Spencer is a Project Engineer/Squad Leader in the transportation section in the Kansas City office. Prior to joining HNTB in 2005 he was a Field Engineer at a Kiewit Southern Corporation. His experience includes interstate design, roadway design, rail design, construction, utility-relocation coordination, drainage design, and many other aspects of transportation design. He is responsible for working with project managers to complete a variety of projects for the HNTB transportation section and other HNTB sections.

Mr Spencer will be discussing the topic of Diverging Diamond Interchanges. The DDI (also referred to as a double crossover diamond) is a unique new interchange type that has recently been implemented to help ease interchange congestion. A DDI reduces the total conflict points from 30 in a traditional diamond to only 18. It moves traffic faster, reduces congestion, and increases safety.

ASCE and ASCE Younger Members are teaming up with Harvesters — The Community Food Network, to sponsor a food drive at the ASCE December lunch. Donations received through the drive will help Harvesters’ network feed those in need throughout Kansas City.

It’s sometimes difficult to believe that hunger exists in Kansas City. Most people think of hunger in terms of famine and mass starvation — terrible tragedies, but not something that affects people every day in our own community.

Hunger in our community is often more subtle. It’s a child who stuffs his pockets during lunch at school so he has food to eat at home in the evening. It’s a parent who is—ironically—overweight, because sugar and carbohydrate-laden foods are often the least expensive at the local store. It’s a senior citizen who goes without food in order to buy medicine, further jeopardizing her already fragile health.

The reality is that there are hungry people in Kansas City. Harvesters’ agencies provide assistance to nearly 60,000 people every week. And fully half of those are children and the elderly.

A contribution on December 13 means much needed help, and hope, will be available to those who need it. Please bring a few items to our luncheon. Your generosity makes a difference.

Attendees that bring 3 nonperishable items will be entered into a drawing for a gift card. Attendees that bring 6 or more items will be entered into the drawing twice.

PROGRAM: Landslides and the Development of Hazard Maps for Northeast Kansas

In 1997, the Kansas Geological Survey began an effort to map the landslide hazards of northeastern Kansas. The pilot area was Atchison, because of the steep bluffs along the Missouri River. For the Atchison pilot project, aerial photographs of several dates were combined with the data from the civil engineer’s office, and a field reconnaissance to produce a map of landslide features. The map included recent landslides and slope areas that have features related to dormant landslides. This data was digitized, along with a geologic map of the pilot area, and a digital elevation model (DEM). The DEM was used to produce maps of the slope angle and slope aspect. The next step was to produce quantitative landslide susceptibility map (landslide hazard map). Because of the size of the area (two 7½ minute quadrangles) and a lack of knowledge of the distribution of soil properties, deterministic approaches based on soils mechanics could not be used in this area. Thus, a probabilistic approach was used. Although many researchers in this field use large numbers of data sets, the KGS approach selected datasets based on the key elements of the deterministic approach: material properties and slope angle. Geologic data was used as a substitute for material properties that were not available. The regression equation was solved using a statistical package producing an equation that could be used to determine the landslide hazard probability for each cell in the raster. The pilot project produced four products: a new geologic map, a map showing the landslide features, landslide hazard map, and a report on the landslides. Landslide feature and landslide hazard maps were produced for several other areas including the City of Leavenworth.